490 LIFE HISTOEIES OP NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



common in suitable localities, and its center of abundance during the breed- 

 ing season must be looked for north of latitude 58°, and it extends thence 

 to the tree limit. The most northern point at which it has yet been found is 

 Putnam River, Alaska, where specimens were taken by Lieut. G. M. Stoney, 

 United States Navy. Its breeding range is known to extend from Labrador in 

 a northwesterly direction clear across the continent to the shores of Bering 

 Sea, and as it covers such an immense tract of country, I doubt if it is very 

 common anywhere. 



The Rusty Grackle is much more of a forest-loving species than the other 

 Blackbirds, and during the breeding season it appears to be far less gregari- 

 ous. Its favorite haunts in the Adirondacks are the swampy and heavily 

 wooded shores of the many little mountain lakes and ponds found everywhere 

 in this region, and here it spends the season of reproduction in comparative 

 solitude. I can state from personal experience that the oologist who desires 

 to study this species on its breeding grounds must make up his mind to endure 

 all sorts of discomforts; millions of black flies, gnats, and mosquitoes make 

 life a burden during his stay, while the bogs and swamps through which one is 

 compelled to flounder in search of the nest render walking anything but pleasant, 

 and I am not at all surprised that genuine eggs of this species are still desiderata 

 in most collections. 



The Rusty Blackbird spends its winters mostly in the Middle and Southern 

 States, and is one of the earliest migrants to return to its breeding grounds. It 

 arrives in the more southern portions of its breeding range usually late in March 

 or early in April, before the ice in the lakes has broken up and the trees have 

 commenced to sprout; and even on the Yukon River, Alaska, it has been seen as 

 early as April 10. Its food during the summer months consists principally of 

 insects of various kinds, such as caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, etc., small 

 moUusks, worms, wild berries, and small seeds. In winter this species feeds 

 more on grain and may be seen occasionally about barns and stock yards and 

 in corn and rice fields, usually in small flocks by themselves, but sometimes in 

 company with other Blackbirds. Their mode of flight resembles that of the 

 Red-winged Blackbirds, and when feeding, while moving along, the rearmost fly 

 over the others and ahght again in the front ranks. Their notes are much more 

 musical than those of the Grackles or other Blackbirds. The ordinary call note 

 sounds hke "tchack, tchack," several times repeated; another is like "turulee, 

 turulee, turulee," uttered in a clear tone, and varied occasionally to "trallahee, 

 trallahee." 



Mr. J. W. Preston writes: "On an early spring day, while I was waiting 

 in a sheltered wood, a good-sized flock of Rusty Blackbirds settled in some low 

 trees about me, and as I was standing quietly by a large tree they did not see me. 

 The wind whistled loudly through the branches above, but these lively fellows 

 began a serenade so joyous and full of gleeful abandon that I hngered long to hear 

 them. In singing they opened the ImU widely and the throat swelled with mel- 

 ody. Their notes are rich, varied, and energetic. They are almost constantly in 



